Sargent Bickham Lagudis LLC lessened its position in shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB – Get Rating) by 24.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 388 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 123 shares during the period. Sargent Bickham Lagudis LLC’s holdings in Albemarle were worth $84,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Green Square Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Albemarle by 1.6% in the third quarter. Green Square Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,321 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $614,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Albemarle by 2.3% in the third quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,671 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $442,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co increased its stake in Albemarle by 3.4% in the third quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 1,149 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $304,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Decatur Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Albemarle by 0.8% in the second quarter. Decatur Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,269 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,101,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd increased its stake in Albemarle by 51.2% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 130 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.24% of the company’s stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
ALB has been the subject of several recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Albemarle from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 25th. Piper Jaffray Companies assumed coverage on shares of Albemarle in a report on Thursday, January 26th. They issued an “overweight” rating on the stock. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Albemarle from $297.00 to $250.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 11th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $345.00 to $295.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Albemarle currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $308.00.
Insider Buying and Selling
Albemarle Stock Performance
ALB opened at $221.04 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $25.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.69, a PEG ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 1.57. Albemarle Co. has a 1-year low of $185.15 and a 1-year high of $334.55. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $250.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $258.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.89 and a quick ratio of 1.13.
Albemarle (NYSE:ALB – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The specialty chemicals company reported $8.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.46 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $2.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.60 billion. Albemarle had a net margin of 36.75% and a return on equity of 37.63%. Albemarle’s revenue for the quarter was up 193.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.01 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Albemarle Co. will post 30.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Albemarle Increases Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, March 17th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This is an increase from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 16th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.01%.
About Albemarle
Albemarle Corp. engages in the development, manufacture, and marketing of chemicals for consumer electronics, petroleum refining, utilities, packaging, construction, transportation, pharmaceuticals, crop production, food-safety, and custom chemistry services. It operates through the following business segments: Lithium, Bromine, Catalysts, and All Other.
Featured Articles
- Get a free copy of the StockNews.com research report on Albemarle (ALB)
- MarketBeat Week in Review – 3/27 – 3/31
- What is a Gold IRA, and is it a Viable Investment?
- Is Braze Inc Ready To Rocket Higher?
- Mullen Automotive Makes Deliveries; Short-Squeeze Possible
- Can Frontline Maintain This Momentum?
Receive News & Ratings for Albemarle Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Albemarle and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.
